On February 25, 2020, the Prime Minister held the 13th meeting of the Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters at the Prime Minister’s Office.

At the meeting, a discussion was held on the response to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

Based on the discussion, the Prime Minister said,

“In several areas of Japan, several novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases have emerged in a sporadic pattern, whose routes of transmission are not clear. It has been reported that infections in small groups, or patient clusters, have also emerged.

Now is truly the critical moment in order to contain the outbreak swiftly. In response to such a situation, we have compiled basic policies so as to further advance our efforts to counter novel coronavirus (COVID-19) with the national government, the local governments, medical professionals, business operators, and the public working together.

Firstly, and above all, the Government will continue to provide accurate and easy-to-understand information to the public. From today the Government has voluntarily started to implement measures that enable as many staff as possible to commute avoiding rush hour traffic as much as possible. I ask for companies and organizations to also strongly advance measures such as encouraging staff and others who have symptoms of a cold, such as a fever, to take leave, as well as staggered working hours and tele-working.

In addition, it is imperative to control the rate of increase of patients to the greatest degree possible in order to control the outbreak. To this end, we will fundamentally enhance measures in response to patient clusters. We will form a response team, with the participation of experts in the field of infectious diseases, and thoroughly support local governments where patient clusters have emerged. Depending on the situation facing respective local governments, we will implement more in-depth responses based on this basic policy so as to prevent further local outbreaks.

In response to the request from the Governor of Hokkaido yesterday, we will today dispatch a response team to Hokkaido. Meanwhile, it is an urgent issue to put necessary structures in place, including a medical-treatment structure focusing on the treatment of patients with serious symptoms. We will thoroughly develop such a medical-treatment structure, which is necessary to deal with this situation, collaborating with relevant parties, such as local governments and medical institutions.

I ask all the Ministers to develop detailed policy measures at your respective ministries, following this basic policy, and swiftly implement them, so as to prepare for future developments.”